There’s a reason I shop at Costco almost every week. The store’s bulk discounts make it possible for me to save money in the course of feeding my family.
But while there’s a long list of items I tend to buy from Costco on a regular basis, there are also a few specific items I won’t purchase in bulk from Costco. Here are three in particular that I tend to buy at my regular supermarket — and you may want to do the same.
1. Cereal
Am I the only person who thinks cereal is sort of a scam? Often, you’re paying $6 or $7 for a box that’s supposedly filled with wholesome ingredients only to find yourself hungry 30 minutes after eating a large bowl.
But like it or not, cereal is a necessity in my household. And while I can’t help but factor it into my grocery budget, I don’t like to buy it from Costco.
The reason? Costco doesn’t sell much cereal under Kirkland, its signature brand. Rather, what I usually see are bulk boxes of name brands at a discount compared to my regular supermarket.
But at my regular supermarket, I can buy the store brand and pay even less. So it makes sense for me to do that rather than pay a premium (albeit a smaller one) at Costco.
Also, another thing that annoys me about cereal is that makers of it haven’t yet found a way to make those bags resealable. This means that once you open a box of cereal, you have a pretty short window of time to finish it before it starts to go stale. Because of that, I’m not interested in buying even larger boxes of cereal at Costco.
2. Condiments
We’re salad eaters in my household, so we tend to like to try different dressings. And I will admittedly put ketchup on surprising things, so we go through a lot of that, too. (Have you tried it on watermelon? I promise, it’s not as gross as you think.)
But here’s the thing about condiments. By nature, they tend to sit out on the table or counter for long periods of time. And so I’d rather buy them in smaller quantities so we can use them up more quickly.
Besides, I’ve found that if you stock up on condiments at the supermarket strategically, you can save money.
In my area, for example, you’ll almost always find ketchup and mustard on sale before Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day, because these are big grilling occasions. And what I’ll often do then is buy an extra bottle if the sell-by date is far enough out. And when those sales hit, the prices tend to be better than Costco’s.
3. Peanut butter
Peanut butter is another one of those foods we go through a lot of in my household. But for the most part, I tend to buy it at my regular supermarket. And the reason is that when you catch a sale, the price there is often better than Costco’s price.
Case in point: Right now, the online price for Kirkland peanut butter is $12.99 for 56 ounces, which brings your cost per ounce to $0.23. But my local supermarket has Jif peanut butter on sale for $2.49 for a 16-ounce jar, bringing the cost per ounce to $0.16.
Now to be fair, Costco.com prices are pretty much always higher than Costco’s in-store prices. But even if I can buy that same Kirkland peanut butter at the store for $9.99, that’s still $0.18 per ounce, vs. $0.16 at my local supermarket.
Although Costco’s prices are very competitive, that’s not always the case. So if you’re trying to stick to a budget, it’s important to compare your options with your regular supermarket to see what saves you the most money. And you also need to keep factors like freshness in mind, since it doesn’t always make sense to buy every product in bulk.
But if you do decide to buy certain items at your local supermarket instead of Costco, make sure to use a credit card that puts a nice amount of cash back in your pocket. Click here for a list of the best credit cards for grocery rewards so you can save a bundle even if you’re not getting one of Costco’s famous bulk discounts.
